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8 High Schools Among Nation's Best

May 26, 2011

A list of the nation’s top high schools released by the Washington Post includes eight schools in the Long Beach Unified School District.

The rankings, similar to those that appear annually in Newsweek, include schools that surpass 93 percent of other public high schools nationwide in terms of their ability to offer rigorous college prep courses.

“We’re thrilled that the Washington Post has recognized the high quality of our local high schools,” said Christopher J. Steinhauser, superintendent of schools for the Long Beach Unified School District. “It’s a great honor, especially coming from one of the world’s leading media outlets, and it’s a tribute to the hard work going on in our schools.”

The Post divides the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other college-level tests a school gave in 2010 by the number of graduating seniors. Only 7 percent of the approximately 27,000 U.S. public high schools qualified for the list.

The Washington Post sold Newsweek last summer and is now reporting its own rankings. Though the Post rankings vary slightly from the latest Newsweek numbers, both versions contain the same LBUSD schools. For the first time, North Long Beach’s Jordan High School this month appeared on both the Newsweek and Washington Post lists.

As with the Newsweek list, the report by the Post includes the percentage of students receiving subsidized lunches, a figure illustrating the poverty challenges that schools face.

Local schools’ rankings on the Washington Post report (with the percentage of students receiving subsidized lunches) are:

AMERICA'S BEST -- The Class of 2010 at Long Beach high schools was the most successful on record, with an unprecedented eight high schools surpassing 93 percent of schools nationwide on college preparedness rankings. Wilson Classical High School topped the local list. Thomas Curran, pictured here, was a 2010 Wilson valedictorian who enrolled at UCLA.

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